Overstaying American awaiting deportation: BI

MANILA -- An overstaying American national is awaiting deportation following his apprehension by the fugitive search unit (FSU) of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) last week in Manila.

BI Commissioner Jaime Morente identified the foreigner as Victor Didenko, 45, who was arrested Friday along the corner of M.H. Del Pilar and Salas Streets in Ermita, Manila.

The American has been the object of complaints by residents and establishment owners in Ermita for being rowdy and always making trouble.

Didenko, now confined at the BI ward facility in Camp Bagong Diwa,Taguig City, will be deported for being undesirable, overstaying and undocumented alien.

Aside from being a notorious troublemaker, he will be deported for holding an expired US passport and overstaying his tourist visa, Morente said in a statement.

The BI noted that the foreign national has become a public charge or a burden to society as he had been the perennial subject of complaints by citizens who saw him frequently roam the streets of Manila and Pasay, begging for money from strangers and engaging in acts that disturb the peace.

We cannot allow unruly foreigners like him, who have no means of support, to stay in our country any longer, lest he becomes primarily dependent on the government for subsistence, Morente added.

On the other hand, BI-FSU chief Bobby Raquepo, said Didenko was charged before a Manila court with violating a city ordinance for breach of peace last July.

The charges were filed after policemen arrested him along Mabini Street, Ermita for shouting in public, uttering insulting remarks on Filipinos and challenging everyone to a fistfight.

We also heard that he had been begging for alms from passersby on the pretext that he was robbed of his money and passport, Raquepo said.

Didenko reportedly last arrived in Manila on September last year and had been overstaying since March when the period of his extended stay as a tourist expired.

The US embassy also confirmed that his passport already expired last Oct. 25, thus making him an undocumented alien.

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